Ask tenant to replace cooker she's ruined?

[MacarenaMacarena]

4 years ago tenant moved into my flat. I provided a new cooker for her. It's now not working. On closer inspection, she has used it a lot (fair!) but never cleaned it (disappointing), damage from her treatment of it is what has damaged it.
She needs another one.
But I don't really think this is reasonable wear and tear - more neglect and abuse.
Reasonable inspections and checks have been carried out regularly, compulsive gas safety checks have been done.
If she moved out tomorrow I could deduct at least part of the replacement cost from her deposit, but as she's staying, what would be a fair way forward?

I clean the hob a lot but rarely clean the inside of the oven and its been going strong for years. I wouldn't charge the tenant

How can you prove it was her lack of cleaning that broke it?
I had tenants who didn't seem to clean much. They lived there for much longer than four years (more like ten). Oven/stove never broke. The fridge did though - it happens (though it's never happened to me). I replaced it.
You'll have to replace and pay.

I've never cleaned my oven, it's much older and still working. Either your tenant has done something to the oven other than not cleaning it, in which case you can take it out of the deposit, or it's broken despite not being cleaned in which case it's on you to replace it.

Either way, I can't see how not cleaning an oven causes it to break unless she's been using it to smelt iron or something.

I was wondering this

The only time my oven has had ever had issues due to cleaning is when I've been too enthusiastic with the oven cleaner and got liquid into parts liquid should not be. Even then it worked after drying out for a few days.

What's broken about the oven? Generally speaking they're pretty simple things with not much to go wrong, a failed element is usually trivial to replace.

I'd look at getting it repaired before doing anything drastic.

To the people on here who rarely clean their oven, do you pay someone to come and clean it or just never bother at all?

@Clymene im happy for them to use the goods and wash clothes etc. I’m not tenant bashing. I’m a renter myself and bought my own stuff.

But quite often tenants had their own goods and wanted to use theirs so we had to remove and store numerous bulky items it just wasn’t worth it in the end as in our area folks seem to have moved from wanting fully furnished etc - to just wanting the house empty to make their own mark on it. If someone’s in dire straits we’ll help them out. It’s the same with furniture. Most folks we rent to have their own preferences on furnishings. If stuffs been left behind we do ask if they want it otherwise we donate it to a local charity.

We had some tenants that took the goods with them at the end of the tenancy - deposit never covered the cost of them.

On the whole our tenants are in for 8 years plus. We redecorate the whole property every 5 years. We do touch ups where needed. We will redo kitchens and bathrooms if they become grotty or a bit lack lustre. We try to make the home as energy efficient as possible so the tenants bills are lower.

We aren’t slum landlords that don’t care. We just don’t provide white goods.

You see cynics and sluts amongst us would query whether it was the constant monthly cleansing that caused those poor ovens to conk out……..

Have you have the breakdown confirmed by an engineer that its because it wasnt cleaned?

if not i think you should just buy a new one

White goods are included in the place I rent too. Tenants are allowed to use the property within what would be considered a 'tenant-like manner' (!). Unfortunately for you, that means using her cooker as often as she likes and cleaning it as (not) often as she likes. She hasn't abused or neglected it by not cleaning it. A clause in the contract of cleaning it regularly would be worthless legally, and you can't even ask her to do it during inspections.

I have to say though, I used to be a cleaner and have done many, many end of tenancy cleans. It was very common for tenants to have never cleaned their oven and I've never heard of one breaking because of it.

I have heard of landlords buying cheap shit though and being surprised when it doesn't live as long as the expensive one they bought for themselves...

Provide a very basic one.

When she moved on do not provide a cooker for the next tenant. They provide their own and you've not got maintenance. I'd insist it was installed using a registered installer though.

Anything you provide is your responsibility to fix.

I give the top of mine a wipe-down every time I wash up. It gets a proper clean on the top when something boils over. The outside gets cleaned when it starts looking grubby which is about once a week. I have dogs and the oven door seems to attract dog hair.

The inside only ever gets cleaned when the streaks between the glass on the door start irritating me. Probably once every 6 months-ish.

As I said the only time I've ever had issues is when I've gone overboard with the Mr Muscle and soaked the electric spark thing at the back of the oven.

Just buy her a new one. They aren’t really that costly for a new basic one.

Had a similar issue here - except a corner of the hob had been smashed; brought to light by end of tenancy inspection and hadn't been reported. Do you manage the property yourself - our agent told us the difficulty would in recovering the full cost would be that a standard rental oven is expected to last 10 years, so the only way we could recover any funds would be a percentage of the cost of a new hob, proportionate to the length of time the tenant has been in the property; so we are looking at getting 70 quid back off tenant. I would let it go.

I never clean it.

Bloke comes one a year.

Just here to see if OP ever bothers to explain how not cleaning an oven can break it… 🍿

Let me guess, you bought one if the cheapest ovens you could get and are now wondering what she has done to break it as your more expensive, higher quality oven has lasted much longer. 🙄🙄🙄

You say "reasonable inspections and checks have been carried out regularly" so why have you only noticed that the oven was "never cleaned" or that she was damaging it? When I lived in rented property that had inspections the oven and the bathroom were two things that always got checked.

As many other people have said, a dirty oven does not usually cause it to break.

Your choices are

1. Hire someone to look at the oven and find out whether the true cause of the failure was the lack of cleaning. If so you can then ask her to pay for the new oven.
2. Buy a cheap second hand oven and install it.
3. Be a typical landlord and serve her notice. You can then try to claim for the cost of the oven from her deposit. She'll probably try to claim for the lack of an oven from you.

Option two is the cheapest, easiest and most obvious option for you.

I had an brand new expensive oven 5 years ago, within 12 months the hinges on the door broke, within 18 months the heating element went and then at 3 years the heating element went again.
I've brought 2 washing machines in 5 years and now in need of a 3rd.

Nothing is built like it used to be and my oven will likely need replacing in a couple years.

Fellow LL here and I would just replace it. She’s been a good tenant for four years and things do sometimes break. All part and parcel of being a landlord.

I grew up in a hoarders house. My cooker was never cleaned. It lasted for 20+ years

anyway. The cheap shitty cookers landlords have always supplied with a house have broken within a year or 2 of me moving in (cleaned after every use). Ive repaired where economical but normally I always replace with a decent one myself. They last. If it was a cheap one that will be the issue. My favourite was the exploding glass door with a toddler and dog in the house. That seems to be a cheap one issue as well.

although one rental I took on the cooker was so disgusting I just got a new cooker from the off.

Bingo!